Category Archives: Marketing

What separates “A” quality marketers from the flock

January 16, 2015 by 123outsource
Categories: Marketing | Leave a comment

In reality, marketers don’t travel in flocks, they travel in packs — or they prowl around at night solo. After all, marketers are either wolves or tigers, not sheep — at least the highest level of marketers are. But, putting semantic and zoological considerations aside, let’s hit upon some key factors of what separates the tigers from the cubs.

A good understanding of social media is an identifying characteristic
I’m more familiar with social media marketing, but any type of marketing has the same goal. You have a product or service and want to get the most people using it at a profitable price for you. I have met many mediocre social media marketers in my life. They go through the motions. It is sort of like an uninspired eight year old practicing the violin. He keeps playing the same piece over and over with the same mistakes and it is always out of tune. The mediocre social media marketer posts the same type of posts on Facebook, Twitter, and whatever other platforms are involved. If you ask them what makes a post get traffic they will be evasive and say, “It depends, there are so many factors.” What they are saying is true, and the fact that they express the complexity with such simplicity proves their mediocrity. The good social media marketer can explain with some degree of detail how the different factors can influence a post’s success and what experiments they did to try to fine tune their understanding of what makes a good post good.

Limited knowledge seems to identify everyone in marketing
I talk to different people in Marketing from time to time. I have communicated with some of the leaders in the field. The surprising factor that seems to be a constant is that most social media marketers do not understand all the mediums and don’t have a very thorough knowledge of social media as a whole. I spoke to one expert who charges $250 per hour to help people get set up on social media. He told me that he was unable to help me with Google+ which is the #2 most commonly used network! I wrote to another team of experts who have one of the most sophisticated blogs on social media on the net. They also were unable to tell me anything about Google+ other than to read their several blogs on the subject (which were very helpful, but limited.)

What I learned is that some people have knowledge of Facebook and Twitter. There are others who specialize more in Linked In. It is tough to find someone who really understands Google+ or Stumbleupon, and I can’t say anything about the other networks of which there are many. It seems that there are no absolute experts in this field. However, there are some who have a general knowledge of social media which might be good enough for them to trudge through unknown territory.

The jugular
A good marketer finds a way to reach high goals and keeps finding ways to achieve more and more. They constantly refine their techniques, and strive to see deeper into the analytics on a daily basis. If you find a marketer who has nothing to say about how he is trying to refine their techniques or broaden their horizon, they are more likely to be marketers on the “C” list than the “A” list.

Long term goals
A good marketer needs to not only be good at generating constant new leads and mastering the new mediums out there. They need to make their efforts lead to a long term attainment of higher business goals rather than just short term sales. What does that mean for your business? Only you can say!

Communication
The highest level marketers engage in more communication with their higher ups, clients, and co-workers. They realize that they can learn something from their interactions with others, even if it is just bits and pieces. They might need to interact with sales, finance, management, or people in a number of other departments to do a more fine tuned job. Lower level workers tend to avoid interacting with others, especially if they don’t like others.

Performance management
The best marketers have written plans for how they plan to improve their performance over time more than the slackers do. If you have ever taken a course in success, you will probably remember where they told you about two guys from very similar backgrounds. One became a billionaire while the other one just made an average income twenty years after they graduated from high school. What is the difference between these two guys? The one who was successful wrote down their goals. The same applies to the highest level marketers. They have written goals too.

Analysis paralysis
Top level marketers tend to spend more time analyzing performance and trying to figure out what they did right and what they did wrong, not to mention what they can experiment with to see if they can do better than before. Analysis is an interesting word, because a good analyst can look deeper into the numbers and derive more meaningful information while a novice might only see some top-line numbers of how many clicks or visitors a blog got.

Is Kim Kardashian just another face, or can you learn about business from her?

January 11, 2015 by 123outsource
Categories: Marketing | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

There are personal brands and corporate brands.
In the end, a successful brand makes a personal connection. Some people say that Kim Kardashian leveraged her family connections to gain fame and get a foot in the door to have a media presence. Her father’s prestige as a well connected Attorney who was involved with the most famous law suit in American history (OJ Simpson’s case) really helped plant a seed that flourished over the years.

Kim wanted to build her personal brand by getting the attention of the media.
Having a sex tape with a celebrity got her in the tabloids and general media. With one simple tape, she elevated her status from just another pretty face to a potential celebrity. After this bold and decisive claim to fame, she decided to make a name for herself as a trend setter and built this reputation on her various social media accounts. Kim spent a lot of time connecting and engaging with her followers which is absolutely essential in social media.

Using celebrity status to engage the media even more.
Once Kim had attained celebrity status, she built more of a presence with it by having her own show on television. She also posed “au natural” for several magazines to create more controversy and gain more attention. In the media, you can be fun, or you can be interesting, but nothing gains more attention than controversy.

Summary
Additionally, it should be said that Kim understands the entire trademark process. She knows the legal aspects of what to brand, how to brand it, and when, etc.

Finally, Kim partnered with very successful people to create brands. She was part of Shoedazzle, Bell Noel jewelry,a video game app deal, and more. Basically she leveraged the name she created for herself to market products.

To sum it up, Kim is a master of building a success on another success. She used family connections and a sex tape to gain fame. Then, she used it to build even more fame, and brand products using her name. Her innate and natural beauty is also critical to the process as she has a very unique and stunning look.

What can your business learn from Kim’s success?
First of all many businesses are on social media. Most social media accounts are dreadfully dull. You can learn from Kim how to jazz up your social media. Her Twitter account is very visual with lots of sexy and stunning photos. As a business, you will need more meat to captivate your audience, but the dazzle always helps. Your business can also learn to engage with people via social media. However, in general, a successful business is successful because you connect with people in a meaningful way and help them in substantial ways. And if all else fails, you can urge your corporate president to make a sex tape with a celebrity. Sure, it is not an ethical or moral thing to do — but, it’s all part of maintaining an image (not necessarily the one you want though.)

Thinking outside the croissant – a guide to making better business decisions

January 10, 2015 by 123outsource
Categories: Marketing | Leave a comment

We have a local coffee house in our complex. They have a very pleasant staff and make decent coffee concoctions. Their downfall is that they fail to understand very simple business concepts such as inventory management. In a cafe, you have coffee drinks which require storing beans and milk which can be kept for days in a refrigerator. You can also sell cold drinks which keep well. But, pastries just don’t taste the same the second day. So, what is the solution?

What is Perishable & What is Not?
There are items such as cookies which can be stored longer than pastries. It might also be possible to buy more pastries mid-day if you prematurely ran out. Biscotties are a type of dry bread that cafe goers love that keeps forever. However, our local cafe owner employs none of these strategies. He has a huge surplus of pastries in the winter at the end of the day, and runs out at 2pm in the spring and summer. He fails to base his purchasing on sales and refuses to adjust his habits or even think about the matter. His management style is pure madness and very stubborn.

A Pastry Algorithm
I suggested to him that he create a pastry algorithm. His ordering practice would be based on a combination of how many he sold last year during the same month — but, also based on how things have been going over the last two weeks. Maybe his business picked up recently because there are more neighbors who enjoy his coffee.

What Else can he Sell?
Our local cafe could easily sell sandwiches, fruit bowls, and dinner items. People would buy them. They used to sell them and it went okay. However, if you have the same old thing all the time, people might get sick of it. It is important to have the same old things that sell like crazy, but to also have new things so that your long-term clients don’t get bored.

It’s not hard to make big money
Some cafes are always packed. They have a vibrant social scene, a great staff, and great coffee. Other cafes just don’t do as well. The consciousness of the owner has a lot to do with this as well as the overall quality of everything else. But, if you don’t think outside the box or the croissant here, you will be limiting your success. Why put a damper or lid on your potential? Try some new ideas on a small scale and see how they work. But, don’t just try the ideas, really think about them and ask your clients how they feel about your need ideas and their experience with them.

How long will your reputation last if you don’t do what you say you’ll do?

January 2, 2015 by 123outsource
Categories: Marketing | Leave a comment

Most of us reading this blog are in business. We are all aware of how annoying or exasperating it is to work with someone who doesn’t do what they say they will do. It is so basic and so elementary to know that you should keep your word. Yet many of us in business don’t for one reason or the other. Some are too busy to do what they promised. Others forget or just don’t care. Some are frauds and intentionally don’t deliver on promises.

This applies to threats too. If you run a business and have rules for conduct and someone breaks the rules, do you keep your promise to penalize them? If someone pays you late and you have a $25 late fee do you wave the late fee? If you do, nobody will take your policy seriously. I run a directory and threaten to take people offline if they don’t login regularly. I keep my threat now, but I didn’t use to. The minute I kept my promise, people started logging in religiously.

It is busy running a business, and sometimes we forget about very basic things like keeping in touch with critical people and keeping our promises all the time every time. If you don’t, people will lose faith in you and then you will not have a business for long!

How to be a better outsourcing company (so you’ll attract more clients)

August 3, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Marketing | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

There are several ways your company can do a better job in outsourcing.

(1) Be better at what you do.
Do you do web design? Try to be better at it. Don’t ask me. I’m not in web design. Just make your designs look better for lack of a better description for what to do. Hire people to train your workers to do a better job. It will cost, but you might get a good benefit. The experts sometimes can change your entire way of thinking with only a few hours a day!

(2) Be better at communicating.
Americans are amazing at communication, but very lazy about actually getting work done. I don’t understand how our country has reached such greatness with all of these lazybones. The only people in America who are useful are foreigners. They actually work. But, try talking to foreigners. Most of them can’t communicate, or just prefer not to — especially Asians. With Indians, the more educated types tend to be good at communicating while the working class has a dismally horrifying way of communicating. The problem is that as an Indian manager, you are too used to how things are, and don’t realize that it is a problem. People who mumble on the phone and speak inaudibly are a problem. People who don’t answer questions or don’t announce who they are when picking up the phone are a big problem. You either hire people who can communicate, or drill it into them. Communicate!

(3) Hire someone to do verification?
What does this mean? You need someone to check on your workers’ work. Make sure that when they say something is done, that it is done. Make sure they are not slacking off or being inefficient. Make sure they are not cheating on their hours, etc. If they can do training or motivation as well that is great. But, you can’t rely on workers to check their own work. Most people are sloppy and verifying is a niche profession. As a manager, you can double check verified work to verify the work of the verifier. It is like Russia. You hire someone to work, another one to watch him, and another one to watch the guy who is watching the work, and so on (comrade)!

(4) Make sure you are tight on deadlines
Nobody respects a company that doesn’t finish work on time. People like it if you are always done on time, and communicate that fact to the client. You might need someone to plan how you intend to get work done on time, and that person might be the one to force people to work overtime if work is not done on time.

(5) Interact
Do you give progress reports to your clients? I like to get an email every two business days stating what they did, what types of issues they encountered, etc. I also like friendly heads up calls or emails. I know a nice guy in Bangalore who sends an email to me from time to time. I like him and his partner a lot as people by the way. He is genuinely a great person! He even came to America to see some clients, and I gave him a tour of the town, took him out to dinner, and showed him where the multi-millionaires live in Los Angeles. Keeping in touch and interacting for business and social (small-talk) reasons with your clients pays off in a big way.

(6) Small talk
Marketing is a serious profession. But, what Indians don’t understand is that Americans culturally like small talk. Indians are a social bunch. Many of the older women are chatterboxes. They never stop talking. But, when it comes to business, people clam up. Don’t be like this. The reason I like Indians (when I say Indians, I mean nice Indians, because I don’t like the mean ones) is because they are more friendly than other nationalities. Try to be friendly with the people you work with. When you are marketing and trying to attract more clients, they will seven times more likely to work with you if you can make small talk with them. Instead of just asking what the requirements are, talk about the weather. Talk about your trip to the office. Ask them if they have any specific needs. If you just ask in a dull mono-tone what the requirements are, they will think you are very undesirable.

(7) Refine Your Marketing
Having a great website, and great ways to reach new prospective clients is very important. On the other hand, if you are the best company in town, you won’t need to prospect clients — they will come to you. I do marketing for a living. It is a little hard to describe how to be good at marketing in a single paragraph. But, to make it short and sweet, you need to be constantly interacting with new prospects every month. You need to be constantly refining the art of attracting and interacting with those prospects. Marketing is not mastered in a day. It is an ongoing process and it is an art form! I don’t know the details of how you should market your company, but try twenty different approaches and see where you get a return on your investment!

Do you know how to communicate what is better about your company?

August 2, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Marketing | Tagged , | Leave a comment

I wrote another blog entry regarding what is better about your company. This entry is similar in nature, but focuses more on the communication aspect. If you already know what is better about your company (most people don’t,) mastering communicating those facts in a graceful and convincing way is paramount.

Most of us are not salespeople. I am very awkward in sales. I am slightly better if I am selling a product that I sell a lot of. Normally, people want to buy listings from me. They ask why they should spend more on a listing, and will that help them get ahead. I tell them that many people who pay more for high placed listings do very well, but that there are multiple factors involved and I don’t want to make promises that I can’t guarantee. As you can see, I am very reluctant to make claims. My information is more statistical rather than a sales pitch. Fortunately, my reputation for delivering jobs to people via my directories speaks for itself, so I don’t have to do the bragging myself! I tell them that the customers who have high placement and do everything else according to my recommendations typically do very well, although a few who are unlucky don’t. It is worth the risk since 90% of the ones who do everything well, get enough jobs to pay for their investment. The odds are very much in your favor. But, enough about me!

You need to practice communicating. Interacting with clients is an art. If you don’t practice, you will not be smooth at it. When you interact with clients, take notes on what you did well, and what you need to work on. Fortunately for me, I do only 10% of the sales for my company. I have someone who is a natural saleswoman do the rest of the selling. She is not afraid to make claims and tell stories of people who got rich from doing business with us.

Obviously you need to have a memorized list of things that make your company better. When clients ask about your company, you need to talk about each attribute or aspect of how you are better. But, don’t stop there. See if they have objections or what they say. They might want to question you, or argue with you about something. Are you smooth at handling yourself in a difficult situation? You need to be in sales. You need to understand how the other person feels, and try to find a way to make them more comfortable without telling them a bunch of nonsense. Let’s do an example

Vikas: Hi, this is Vikas from VKS Web Design
Fred: Hi,this is Fred. I need to hire a Web Design company.
Vikas: We specialize in all aspects of Web Design. We are also very specialized in flash design.
Fred: I don’t like flash design, and the last guys I dealt with tried to sell me on some flash design.
Vikas: Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. Would it make you feel better if you meet our designers face to face and have them show you their work?
Fred: Hmm, that would be very nice. Instead of a sales pitch, I get to see the real deal!
Vikas: Exactly, and if you don’t want to have flash work done, we can accommodate you in any way you like. We cater to those at any budget.
Fred: I am liking this more and more. I get to have it my way, and you’ll be nice about it!
Vikas: Yes, that is how we like to do it. If you are happy, then we are happy.

See how nice Vikas was. He didn’t try to twist a stranger’s arm into signing a contract. He was just nice, helpful, and dealt with objections in a very kindhearted and smooth way.

In any case, make it an art form how you deal with prospects. If you do a good job, that can change your life. Remember, getting clients is no good if you lose them. But, if you can get them, and keep them, then you can become a large company and be rich!

Create stories in your blog about the experience of your clients

July 18, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Marketing, Popular on Google+, Semi-Popular | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

But, I don’t have a blog? Get one!

Most people just focus on acquiring clients. Their mentality is not far from a rickshaw driver’s who only wants to know, “Where are you going? Do you need a ride?” Prospective clients often want to get to know you first and don’t just want to start off talking about the work. Don’t hustle your clients, engage them instead!

Engage your prospects!
If a client talks to ten different companies, and one of those companies pleasantly engages them without any pressure, two months later when they make their decision who to hire, which one will they remember the most favorably? That’s a no-brainer! They will remember the one who engaged them, who told them charming stories about their clients, and about life in Dehra Dun, Mumbai, or wherever you might be.

Storytelling 101
Being a good businessman is more about understanding margins, numbers, hiring, firing, buying and selling. It is about engaging, and engaging with stories. Obviously, you need to be able to explain to others what is unique about your company and why they might consider hiring you. It’s good to keep in touch regularly just to remind them you are still there if you didn’t hear from them. But, tell them a story about something your client did and how they became successful using your service, or perhaps some other unrelated service. Tell them the story about how last week you had to go hungry because an elephant at a parade in Nashik grabbed your banana right out of your hand and ate it! Ask them if they have ever been to India and engage them in a conversation where they might tell you their stories too! If you want to get clients, get close to people. People will trust you more if you are nice, entertaining, and if they get to know you a little!

But, what about blogging?
You can’t tell someone a story if you haven’t met them yet, but you can blog a story to them! People find me on my blog every day. They like the crazy stories I tell on my notary blog. They like the tips and the nit-picky technical points I make. They sort of get to know me before they have ever talked to me. Blogging allows you to be personal, interact, and get people to know you, before you ever talk to them. Then, by the time they talk to you, they already sort of know you — or at least know a lot about you. So, think up some stories. Hire a writer to help you. Put your stories in your blog. Tell them how you had one client who came to you and he became a millionaire partly because of the help you gave him. Then, tell them about the time you had a head on collision with a cow while in a rick-shaw. Share, entertain — blog!

And remember, don’t sell by selling — sell by telling stories. It’s more fun and works better!

What if your outsourcing company spent double on customer service?

May 9, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Marketing | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Hey buddy, I’m trying to make more money, not spend more money! I want more customers and less customer service!

That is how much people in India think, and many people in America are on the same track. But, are you on the right track? In the world of business you make more by giving more. Do you like to go to a restaurant that wants to charge you double, yet give you shrimpy portions? If it is a sushi joint, then maybe, but for other types of restaurants no! People want to go to a restaurant that offer reasonable sized servings, with above average food, and great service. So, don’t give less, give more, and then people will want to use your service more.

Instead of asking, how can you make more money, ask how you can offer a better overall experience for your customers.

At outsourcing companies, customer service is almost always low on the priority list. I have never gotten good service from an outsourcing company. Although I run an outsourcing site, I don’t really like outsourcing to companies. I prefer to get my own individual who I know and trust to do tasks for me. Maybe I might like outsourcing to companies a whole lot more if it were easier to get good quality customer service?

Good customer service is not rocket science. It just means having more people to answer your phones at more hours of the day who speak English clearly and who are trained to answer basic questions. It also means having people get back to you and give progress reports. And don’t think of it as spending double on customer service — think of it as STOPPING spending half of what you should be spending on customer service and finally spending what you should be spending. You might be able to raise your rates if you were offering the best service in town — think about it!

Tweets:
(1) Instead of asking, how can you make more money, ask how you can offer a better overall experience for your customers.

Most BPO blogs use cheap looking pics

March 11, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Marketing, Semi-Popular | Tagged , | Leave a comment

I poke around the web regularly. I often read other people’s blogs to learn a thing or two about online marketing, social media, the world of outsourcing, and more! I noticed that people generally include some sort of photo or graphic on their blogs as a picture. What I noticed is that these pics are normally very cheap looking. They look like the $1 kind of graphics that you buy on some cheap graphics site.

The question we need to ask ourselves is, what is the value of a good photo? If your blog gets lots of traffic, it might be worth it to invest in better artwork. If your blog leads to measurable higher ROI for your business, you might invest in a little bit better artwork. If your home page on your website has cheap looking art work, that is really bad. Blogs come and go. Many people write several blog articles per week or even per day. It gets expensive when you spend $40 per photo day after day. But, for your home page, I think you should spend more than $2 for graphics, don’t you?

I did a little number crunching to see what the benefit of good photos was on blogs and on facebook. My research was not very conclusive since we were testing during the holiday season when stats go up and down depending on what day it is. But, you can get 20-80% more action on Facebook posts if you have a good picture. It really depends on your audience and your business, so it is worth trying it both ways and then counting the number of likes and responses to see if your expense in art was merited.

The bottom line of this article is:
If you are making money, or intend to be making money, lose the cheap looking art work buddy!

Tweets:
(1) If you are making money, or intend to be making money, lose the cheap looking art work buddy!
(2) People normally add a pic to their blog entries. But, these pics are normally cheap looking!
(3) Cheap looking pics on BPO Blogs are expensive in the long run. If they help you to lose business!
(4) If your blog gets lots of traffic, invest in better artwork.
If ur blog promotes cheap looking artwork, never mind.

You might also like:

Roadblocks in the BPO outsourcing profession
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/04/24/roadblocks-in-the-bpo-outsourcing-profession/

BPO and social collaboration
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2012/04/05/bpo-and-social-collaboration/

Do you invest in the customer experience?

January 27, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Marketing | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

There are certain companies out there that are “feel good” companies. Their employees happily work as a team. Their customers are enthusiastic about their product. Cliff Bar, Starbucks and Google seem to meet this description. Customers will want to come to you and refer their friends if you offer a good customer experience.

I have noticed that plumbers, electricians, and outsourcing companies tend to not invest much (understatement of the year) in the customer experience. What if you molded your BPO company so that your customer’s experience from the first email or phone call they made to you until their 143rd project with you was seamless and a wonderful, pleasant experience that they would fondly tell their grandchildren about. In my experience, I have never seen an outsourcing company do anything like this.

The reason that BPO companies don’t invest in customer experience is that they are not even aware that it matters and they don’t think about it. All actions start with thoughts. Remember the big bang 16.4 billion years ago. That started with a divine thought. An awakening of divine consciousness. You need to have your own big bang!

What are some things you can do to enhance the customer experience.
(1) Hire people who are nice and well trained to answer phone calls and emails. That way people will get pleasant and informative answers to their questions.
(2) Give prompt quotes when price queries are made
(3) Give regular feedback to clients whether they want it or not.
(4) Call them just to show your appreciation. Maybe a small gift if they are a valued client.
(5) Get your work done on time or early, every time. Nobody will complain about that.
(6) Give helpful suggestions with or without being asked that are in the best interest of your client, and not necessarily in the best interests of your sales quotas.

Good luck. If you can become the master of customer experience, you could conceivably become the biggest outsourcer in the world due to the fact that nobody else is even conscious of this very important concept!

Tweets:
(1) If you can master the art of customer experience, you’ll become the biggest outsourcer in the world
(2) Nobody else is even thinking of the customer experience, so if you do, you’ll clean up!

You might also like:

Outsourcing: Why everyone is doing it!
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2014/03/25/outsourcing-why-everyone-is-doing-it-one-bizarre-example/

Is it better to have a woman do your phone calls?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2014/01/04/is-it-better-to-have-a-woman-do-your-phone-calls/

7 Habits of successful salespeople

December 1, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Marketing, Popular on Twitter, Semi-Popular | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

I talk to great salespeople regularly. It is not rocket science to see the difference between a seasoned pro and a useless flop. Here are some things that I noticed that the really successful salespeople do.

(1) Pay attention to detail.
If you are selling a complicated product or service, such as software outsourcing — you need to be good about details. Lousy second rate salespeople typically give a lot of misinformation and just try to close the sale no matter what. Those are mediocre salespeople, and respectable salespeople do not talk out of their hat. I just got off the phone with one of the best technical salespeople I have ever met. He took copious notes about what we had talked about. He emailed me after our conversation and reiterated every single important point that we had discussed. I was very impressed.

(2) Get back to people.
If you don’t get back to a prospect, no matter how good a talker you are, you will lose them. You would be amazed at how neglegent many salespeople are these days! It pays to get back to people periodically who are “on the fence” about their decision to buy from your company. Just the fact that you are “in their face” by politely contacting them at strategically appointed intervals makes more difference than you can believe! Strategic intervals are part of my company’s marketing campaign, and I make a study out of it.

(3) Be a good listener?
Girls in America always say that they want a guy who listens. Well, prospective clients do too! Think of your prospects as girls. They want tender loving care, and a shoulder to cry on. Listen to them, and understand not only what they NEED, or what you want to sell, but, how they FEEL. If you care about them — they will be much more likely to buy from you. I have a great story about a programming house in Colorado. The boss had been through similar experiences that I had. When I told him about some difficult experiences I had had with programmers — he told me about a similar problem he had had a year ago. He basically identified with how I felt — an amazing psychological button to press! Study the art of psychological button pressing. You won’t regret it.

(4) Identify the prospect’s needs, and issues.
Sometimes, the client might want a product, but doesn’t realize why they need that product, or another similar product. A good salesperson can correctly identify what the prospective client needs. A stupid salesperson just tries to cram his product down the unwilling propect’s throad and convince the client that he needs it no matter what. Once the good salesperson knows what the prospect needs, he can inform the prospect which product best meets his needs.

(5) Use fear to motivate prospects to purchase your product – but, don’t over do it!
A smart salesperson can tell the prospect of the DANGERS of picking the wrong product. Fear sells well, just as long as you don’t over do it. If you pressed the right button in a prospect, you only have to touch upon it lightly to MOTIVATE them to purchase the product you want them to. A dishonest salesperson will use this technique unethically to motivate a client to purchase from them — and this type of move will seem very blatantly phony to clients and can LOSE you a sale! Don’t be a phony — be a pro!

(6) Get to know your propects a little.
In India, business people are so uptight, and want to keep business strictly business and talk about percentages, and formal statistics. Many of them are very impersonal which is why they get mostly low-level work if any work. Smart salespeople know how to be personal. People want to buy from someone who they feel comfortable with, and feel close to a little bit. The more someone knows you, the closer they feel. In America, selling to people who know you is called WARM MARKET SALES which is supposedly five times easier than cold market sales. Your skill as a salesperson is warming the market up by warming the prospective buyers up. Get to know them and chat them up BEFORE you try to talk about sales and money! If you don’t know how to talk to strangers, become an expert at this, because you will NOT make money in sales if you can’t learn to be an expert at conversation.

(7) Know your product inside out
If you know your industry and your product well, people will think that you are trustworthy and knowledgeable. Nothing sells better than credibility. If you always speak the truth, people will trust you more, and you will sell more. Foolish salespeople are often liars, and people can sense that they are liars right away. Do you want to buy anything from a crooked liar? Me neither. Just because so many other salespeople are liars, doesn’t mean you should be. Be honest and smart — impress your prospects, and make the sale. Many salespeople know almost nothing about their company. They do not know much about similar products. You can ask questions, but they will give you shallow answers. This tells you that they didn’t do their homework, and are NOT a good source of knowledge. The more you know — the more you can communicate to others. Being a good salesman is more than just about sales — it is about how well you can INFORM others about the ATTRIBUTES of comparable products and which attributes might be best for them. If you are HELPFUL, people might buy from you even if your product is NOT their absolute favorite. You would be surprised.

You might also like:

If a client criticizes your workers, who do you side with?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/09/19/if-your-client-criticizes-your-workers-who-do-you-side-with/

Are you good at estimating jobs?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/10/09/how-good-are-you-at-estimating-jobs/

6 strategies for growing your outsourcing business fast

October 16, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Marketing, Semi-Popular | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

In real life, growth is partly in your control and partly based on luck, and market conditions. What I learned from looking around is that most companies don’t grow because they have a failed growth strategy. Here are some simple ideas that can help your outsourcing business or offshoring business take off!

(1) Have labor resources
To attract new clients, you need to have some sort of exposure such as a well promoted web site, advertisements, or agents. But, if you don’t have the labor resources to get work done, then you will lose your new client as quickly as you got them. So many American companies are so stupid this way. They go to great efforts to gain new clients, and then don’t fulfill deadlines and lose the client within 30-90 days. Gaining new clients is hard, not to mention expensive. Make sure you retain them. Now, having labor resources is not the same as having quality labor resources. If your workers are all incompetent, that is even worse than not having resources at all. If not all of your staff is smart, make sure that the few who are smart, are regularly watching and inspecting the no-so-smart people’s work like clockwork. Otherwise you can not retain your clients. Having labor resources is key, but they need to be well managed too, otherwise you can not grow your business. Unfortunately, having more labor than you have clients means that you will be paying salaries for people who are not always busy. That is the cost you have to pay for growth.

(2) Give it away?
I just read a blog about a very successful African American. He was asked how he became successful. He responded that he had popular products and just gave them away in the beginning. He was not greedy for money. He gave lots of samples and free stuff to others, and gained the favorable opinion of many future clients. If you give something of quality away, people will get to know you and your company. Most people prefer to do business with someone they know. So, if they can get to know you for free, you will have a very fast way of acquiring clients — at a cost to you. But, how much is the cost to you if you give a little away to qualified prospects? I would screen them to see if they are worth giving a free lunch. If they seem like they have a good chance of being long term clients, then give them something for free, or at least give them some very flexible terms in the beginning. Most companies alienate prospective clients simply by being to rigid in their contracts and terms.

(3) Have a branch office in America
Many Indian software companies and companies from Belarus have an office somewhere in America. This means they are on the same time zone as prospective American clients. It also means that you have an American phone number, and people who speak good English. Americans will trust you more if you have one of your feet on American soil. Having an American office comes at a huge cost, but it can result in fast growth of your operation too. If you can’t afford an office, you can start out with an independent agent who gets a referral fee for introducing business to you.

(4) Have a well optimized website.
Many companies particularly in Gujarat show up all around the world. If you need a programmer in New York, Moscow, or Canada, companies in Gujarat will show up. If you want to get clients, you need to be visible wherever people are looking. If people find you everywhere, they will remember your company name.

(5) Do overflow work for American companies
Most companies in America have a labor shortage. It is hard to find good help in America these days. Many companies might be willing to use your services if you offer very reliable services at good prices. You can get large quantities of work fast this way. But, don’t screw up, otherwise you lose your relationship permanently. Watch your quality control, because you ruin their reputation if your staff makes any mistakes.

(6) Call people with websites
Have someone who is smooth talking call people with websites around the world who speak your language. Those website owners might need database programming or web design. If you get to know them without trying to push your service down their throat, they might not mind talking to you. A pushy salesman will get hung up on. But, if you just call to talk about what their needs are without being aggressive or trying to sell them anything on the first phone call, you might win their affection. Listening is more important than talking on these types of phone calls, and remember to avoid being desperate. You are there to casually chat and see if you can help them — don’t behave as if you are begging for a job. And remember, a little small talk goes a long way with Americans!

Good luck!

You might also like:

If someone doesn’t need your services today…
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/10/15/if-someone-doesnt-need-your-services-today/

Gaining market share or gaining the type of market share
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/07/18/gaining-market-share-or-gaining-the-type-of-market-share/

How to sell like a pro — what exactly do they do?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2012/06/25/how-to-sell-like-a-pro-what-do-the-pros-do/

The concept of lower-middle management
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2012/08/01/the-concept-of-lower-middle-management/